“Hey Ram, Garlands are not ready and it’s time for Netaji to come. Bring them fast!”
The head of Madhavpur village in the district of Kalahandi district in Indian state of Odissa said in hurry. He was serving the village for more than 10 years, tall, healthy body, muscular arms and a serious face with a calm nature. Everybody in the village revered him for his acumen.
The village is a typical example of an Indian village with lack of basic infrastructure. There was a primary school in a small building of two rooms with children like cattle packed in a cow shed. Two wells -one for the upper caste and other for the lower caste people, are the main source of drinking water; people depend on the rain God for irrigation completely. This time the rain God seems unhappy with this village; the only road to the nearby city was looking like excavation of an ancient civilization.
People know how to read and write just to increase the literacy rate of the state. Educated youth did not find the farming work up to their standard, and they used to go to cities like Surat (Gujarat) to get some work in textile mills and coals fields of Chhattisgarh or Jharkhand.
“Yes Sarpanchji, they are ready with me. I will be back within a minute.”
After the elections, the village was to be fortunate enough to have Netaji on its soil at least after three years. The whole village was waiting eagerly to have a look of him from morning. The school was closed, as it was before some days on Polio Day then panchayat elections followed by legislative elections. Today people were asked not to go to work; men, women and children were in colorful dresses, women had finished their work. The school was well decorated up to the school road; sitting arrangement is also so nicely arranged.
Just in front of the stage there are children standing in rows, then chairs for women followed by men. Everything was nicely planned and the credit goes to a group of people who came to the village yesterday morning with everything with them, from decorative things to chairs. Everybody was eagerly waiting for Netaji.
The dreams, which Netaji showed before the elections when he came to this village last time on an election campaign, were still fresh in the minds of the people. It was the month of May, the temperature was 44 degree, and there were hot winds all over the area. No one could dare to go outside in the Sun, so the life used to be started long before sunshine and then when it was 8-9 am, the life ceased until 4 pm.
There was no one you could find except a group of youth was playing cards under a tree near the school as school was closed in the summer.
“Hey, a group is heading towards us.” someone of the group said looking towards the road.
“They must be going to the fair in the nearby village, see they are wearing all white.”
With in some time, a group of people in white and white was in front of them. They were puzzled to the number of people in the group. None of the group had any idea about anybody of the group coming.
“Hey Suresh, how are you! You don’t remember me?”, someone in white and white said.
“He…..llo uncle, sorry I could not see you.” Suresh stuttered.
He continued, “We just got frightened seeing such a huge group with you, what is the matter?”
“We are here for the election campaign, we are campaigning in all the villages in the district on foot for one month, and it is our last village as I am from this village, we will take rest after in our home. Please go and call Sarpanchji.” Netaji said wiping his sweating.
Within sometime many people were gathered on the school ground. All were happy to see Netaji after so long and to know that Netaji and his group were on foot understanding their problems, going village to village for so many days. After a brief speech, all were convinced to cast their vote in favor of Netaji.
Netaji, before entering into this profession, was a part of this village. When he got failed in higher secondary for the third time, he went above the worldly attractions of working in the field and studying. He had only one work of sitting on the village Chaupal with his friends all day long and talking about some serious topics. Only these things had sent him to the state capital from the village Chaupal.
Today even the electricity was there from early morning to welcome Netaji. However, it used to be there for sometimes in a day to offer tribute to Edison.
“Sir, it’s time for you to go to Madhavpur village. Car is ready,” Netaji’s personal assistant said.
“Hey, what is the need of hurry? Can you not see I am watching ‘Tour to Switzerland’ on Discovery? You want to go there in this summer or not?” Netaji blasted without losing his concentration from the TV.
The garlands lost their fragrance and the children got exhausted standing on their ground for so long without playing. The movie songs, which the people were enjoying, now were irritating them because they had enjoyed them for more than five times, they could even sing the whole song by themselves.
Suddenly, there was a sound of motor in everyone’s ears; suddenly there were many cars before them. The front car’s door opened and two men come out to go to the next car and open the door. This was probably Netaji’s car as it was a bit different from others to have a red light. All this happened like work of Djinn.
Netaji came out of the car with a man with arms and he was following him like his shadow. Netaji was leading his friends to the school ground. The whole picture was similar to what happened in campaign time but the behavior of Netaji and the men coming with him. Children, youth and the old with open hearts welcomed Netaji and his caravan.
Children’s hands were now free. After formal introduction and welcoming program, Sarpanchji invited Netaji to the dais. Netaji with his shadow guard went to the dais and before starting his speech, he said something in the ears of his assistant Mr Mohan.
Netaji started his speech- “Dear brothers, sisters and mothers; I thank you from the core of my hearts for your valuable support and trust on me….” There was a big round of applause from people side. He smiled as the acknowledge, then continued, “…I beg your pardon for coming late today. However, since you people have entrusted me for serving you, I was busy in your work until now. Even before coming to the village, I talked to the electricity department that this is my area and everyone should get electricity. I can understand the importance of electricity in your lives….”
He stopped to have a sip of water. Then continued, “….That is why, I am late, please pardon me. I am in politics just to serve the people and serving you people is my karma and everything for me…. Now there are so many employment opportunities for you because of the industries around our village…. It was my responsibility to get the employment for our youth, I insisted the government to have new industries here…..”
This made the youth somewhat disappointed, as it was true that after the elections there were many new industries came up around the village. It seems the local people were not eligible for the job, as they did not have the security money and the so-called extra money for other services. Therefore, there were outside people who came for the job.
Netaji stopped for a while and there was thunderous sound of clapping and it went on without stopping for a second, even the children were giving a great response though they were not getting the base of the matter. However, it seems everyone was enjoying the speech.
There was a sudden music, which came altogether from nowhere. It gave a pause to the enthusiasm of the audience. All were looking surprised. Netaji took out a small box like instrument from his pocket and went back from the mike. The audience could hear only the whispering sound of Netaji. Netaji talked about some two minutes and after having finished the talking, he talked to his assistant in ears and he again came to the
dais.
“Dear brothers and sisters, there is an important meeting with the chief minister today about the rural development programme and the drought case. I regret; I have to leave for the meeting now. I promise, if you have any problem; you are always welcome to come up with your problems. The doors of my house in the capital are always open for the common people especially for you whose blessings are always with me…..”
The assistant interrupted, “Sir, vehicle is ready.” Netaji with his friends marched towards the car. Everyone was watching the group and the car entered into the pool of dust and was out of their sight within no time. Some people were looking sad but there was a wave of happiness in the children, who had not to wait for long now for getting the sweets.
“Yes, Mr. Ramesh the timing was good. I was not getting anything new to speak when the by heart speech was over.” said Netaji while talking in his mobile when they stopped in the nearby city near a bar. The whole troop had some food; they bought some colorful bottles from there, got some chicken, and again started their journey.
After the meeting, the village came back to its original life. The problems were not stopping even for a while. Because of the drought, everybody was in trouble including cattle. All the water resources were thirsty themselves, without power it was not possible for the people to use the irrigation facilities they installed after spending so much money and time. Finally, it was decided to report all these to Netaji and Sarpanchji set off for the capital.
It was early in the morning; some women were sweeping their courtyards, some were fetching water from the well. He was on foot to the nearby village. Walking on the rough road was not so easy and the pain he was feeling, was the proof of it. The mist was all over the trees like a white blanket. He was thinking about the problems all the way and you could see the Sun at the horizon when he reached the village.
He had to wait for an hour to get the bus to nearby city. The bus was all full; some people including women were hanging like the branches of a tree, it was as everybody was preparing for the bus from night itself. Sarpanchji, anyhow manage to get some space on the roof of the bus where some people were already there with their stuffs.
The bus took two hours to travel hardly 10km from the village to the city. All the way, it was moving like a ship on the ocean. People on the top had to bend themselves many times when there were electric poles crossing the road, branches of trees hanging to the road and the subways. There could be a danger to people’s lives but they are quite accustomed with all these things. They were enjoying the ride with their talking listening to the songs on the local radio station.
On reaching the city, he had some breakfast and then waited for another bus to the state capital.
Soon there was a call.
”Bhubaneshwar….Bhubaneshwar,”
He went inside the bus and took the window seat in front row. As soon as the bus started, Sarpanchji had a deep sleep. The ride was so smooth that it did not bother anybody’s sleep. The road was no more the village or state highway, it was now on the national highway. You could easily guess the development of the country by seeing the quality of the roads, which were a part of the golden quadrilateral project connecting all the four important metros.
It was like a nap for Sarpanchji, when someone awoke him.
“Sir, we have come to Bhubaneshwar,”
He collected his small bag and left the bus to take a rickshaw to the Netaji’s house.
He was on the gate when the guard asked impolitely, “Who are you?”
“I am the Sarpanch of Madhavpur Village, I want to see Netaji.” Sarpanchji replied calmly.
“Do you have an appointment to see him?” Guard inquired.
“No, I do not have. I am from his village, he surely will meet me” He replied.
“He is busy for the entire week, come next week” Guard said.
“I came from a distant place; you please go and inform Netaji, if he says he cannot see me, I will go” He said in somewhat angry mood.
“Sir, I am saying He is busy with some meeting, he cannot see you now.” Guard said with respect this time.
Netaji was seeing all these from his window where he was busy with watching some programs on the TV. He called his assistant and said,” Go and ask Sarpanchji to come and wait in the guest room. Tell him I am busy in an important work.”
Sarpanchji was now allowed to enter the house.
There was greenery everywhere; he was influenced by the automatic sprinkler system, which was watering the grass continuously in all directions. There were beautiful flowers of different colors, which were enhancing the natural beauty of the place. On the side of the house, there were some cars with different models; all were kept in a very nice manner.
One could get the feeling of being in a car show room while looking into them. Out of all those, one, which he had seen when Netaji came to his village, was also there. Near the main door, there was a big black dog; it was looking like a leopard without stripes. It was the first time he was seeing such a dog.
The assistant accompanied him to the guest room, and asked to wait there, where some people were already waiting. On seeing the crowd, one could understand easily, how important Netaji was. People were waiting there watching TV and commenting on the program, talking, etc. There were two big TVs for the public, who could see it in either ways. All were enjoying watching TV; it was as if they have come to watch their favorite programs there.
Sarpanchji saw Mr. Mohan coming into the house. He recognized him as he was also there in the troop when Netaji came to his village.
“Namaste,Mr. Mohan!” He greeted.
“Namaste… Sarpanchji, how are you and your village?” Mr. Mohan replied politely.
“Our village is on the verge of destruction that is why I am here to see Netaji.” Sarpanchji replied disappointedly.
“Do not worry; everything will be all right soon” Mr. Mohan said and went to Netaji.
“Sir, Sarpanchji from Madhavpur village has come to see you,” Mr. Mohan said to Netaji.
Netaji’s concentration was on something else. He repeated, “Sir, Sarpanchji from Madhavpur village has come to see you.”
“Can’t you see I am busy, oh, one more shock for England! These days our boys are really doing well in cricket…” Netaji said in jolly mood.
Mr. Mohan was standing without saying anything.
“Ok, ask him to wait for some time, let me finish the match.” Netaji said without turning his eye from the television.
Sarpanchji waited for about 5 hours. Netaji was preparing for rest after heavy lunch.
“Listen Mr. Mohan, go and ask him to come after a week as I have to go to Delhi for an important meeting.” Netaji said at last, so that he could have a nap without anything in mind.
Sarpanchji was dying of hunger and it was unfortunate of him that even after waiting for a long time he could not meet Netaji. He was thinking about the problems of the village all the way to the village.
“How can our problems be solved?” He whispered. When he reached the village, it was the time of cattle returning to home, some people were also returning with wood and some were coming from the city with their items.
As usual, there was no power. He could see the dim light of lamps from the road. He disappointedly entered his home. His wife got the water for him, without a word he sat on the chair. There was some light in the kitchen room, because of the wood fire and in another room; his younger son was struggling to study under the earthen lamp.
